Egungun: What Christians, Muslims do in our festivals in Ogbomoso
PanNigerianNews
2 min read
By Sunday ADEPOJU
In a paradoxical manner, an Egungun priest and owner of Egungun Obadimeji in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Chief Sanjo Olaniyan (a.k.a. Agba), on Friday, said that Christians and Muslims are always the perpetrators of violence during Egungun festivals.
Egungun Obadimeji is believed to be the ancestor of Oba Alaasoko in Ogbomoso South local government area of the state.
Chief Olaniyan noted that hardly will a traditional religion worshipper aim at disrupting the worship of the ancestral deity, called Egungun in the Yoruba culture.
“Usually, those fomenting troubles and causing violence during Egungun festival are always bearers of Islamic and Christian names like Jacob, Bashir, Job, among others.
“You will not hear names like Sangodele, Oyatunji, Ojetunji, Ogundiran, Awoyemi, Abeegunde, among other names, causing troubles during festival like this,” he added
Chief Olaniyan, whose masquerade outing was on Friday, stated this and sounded a note of warning against violence in the worship of his ancestor.
Speaking with pannigeriannews.com, Chief Olaniyan reigned curses on anyone who desired to cause violence during the celebration of his ancestor.
He said, “I don’t want people to hold cutlasses, swords and other dangerous weapons when following me. Anybody who tries it will not live to see another Egungun festival.”
Olaniyan belived that the worship worship of Egungun does many things in the community.
According to him, through libation, sacrifice and prayers, the community will remain safe and it will add to the fortune of the community, adding that the festival serves economic purposes.
